Meet Shyla
Turtle Clan.
Founder of Giigido Mikinaak.
Who am I?
Boozhoo, I'm Shyla. Turtle Clan. My family is from Gull Bay First Nation.
I'm second generation cut off. Growing up, that meant a lot of confusion about identity and belonging. Was I really Indigenous? Did I have the right to engage with the culture, the language?
The answer is yes. It just took me time to get there.
About Us
Giigido Mikinaak is an Indigenous-owned business based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. We make physical and digital tools for Indigenous language learning, starting with Anishinaabemowin and building toward more languages over time.
Why language
Learning Anishinaabemowin changed something in me. It gave me a sense of belonging I didn't have before. Confidence I didn't know I could have.
I know that feeling isn't unique to me. A lot of people carry fear around learning their language, fear of saying it wrong, guilt for not knowing more, no access to a speaker to learn from. Those barriers stop people before they even start.
I built Giigido Mikinaak to close that gap.
What I bring to it
I’ve been an Indigenous Language Coordinator, working directly with Anishinaabemowin and language mentors. Three years in digital media design, most recently focused on web design, app development, and UX.
I'm not a fluent speaker. What I can do is build the bridge, sharing knowledge from fluent speakers and turning it into tools that meet people where they are.
Where is this going?
Our first Turtle Card set, Ataage Agindaasonan, is the first step. More languages, more tools, and more ways to bring Indigenous languages into daily life are next.
Whether you're second generation, urban, adopted, displaced, or scooped, this is for you. No one should ever feel not Indigenous enough.